(CNN) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate of stricter gun-control laws, said in a radio interview Friday the two candidates for president needed to take a firmer line in addressing gun violence.

Bloomberg's comments came as police and the FBI were investigating a deadly shooting in Colorado that left at least 12 people dead.
"Soothing words are nice, but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country," Bloomberg said on WOR Radio's "The John Gambling Show."

"I mean, there are so many murders with guns every day, it's just got to stop," Bloomberg said. "And instead of the two people – President Obama and Governor Romney – talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, okay, tell us how."

"In the end, it is really the leadership at a national level, which is whoever is going to be president of the United States starting next January 1st – what are they going to do about guns?" Bloomberg asked.

Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney met with Bloomberg in May, but an aide to the mayor said Bloomberg remained undecided about making an endorsement in the presidential race. Bloomberg won his last election as a political independent, but was previously a Democrat, then a Republican.

In his interview Friday, Bloomberg said guns getting into hands of criminals wasn't solely a problem in cities like New York.

"This is killing people every day, and it's growing and it's not just an inner-city, east coast, west coast, big city phenomenon. Aurora is not a big city," Bloomberg said, referring to the suburb of Denver where Friday's shooting took place.

The problem isn't gun control. The problem is the people. The majority of the people in our country are weak. They can't handle stress or they don't know how to solve their problems properly.

July 20, 2012 12:23 pm at 12:23 pm |

JT

Obviously the problem isn't how killers get ahold of guns, but why they decide to try and kill people.

Psychopaths don't need guns to kill people.

July 20, 2012 12:23 pm at 12:23 pm |

Lucky18

Bloomberg is talking to the air! He's right though!

July 20, 2012 12:26 pm at 12:26 pm |

Christopher Bock

Mr. Bloomberg, what about all of the babies that you're "political" stance of being pro-choice has killed? What are you doing about that? Gun ownership is constitutional and if you take away guns from U.S. Citizens the only ones who will have them are criminals. My heart is broken over the tragedy in Aurora, CO, This is senseless and tragic! As a law abiding citizen, Clinton tried this in the 90's and crime went up. I deeply believe in my constitutional right to bear arms and have pursued my gun ownership legally and if that means waiting for 4-5 months while the ATF investigates me because that is the law of the land, I will do this because I respect the law and will ALWAYS abide by it. The only thing that stricter gun control laws will hurt are people like me who follow the rules. If President Obama has decided to set aside politics for today, maybe you should too. Like the gentleman named Ed who posted previously I also am not a member of the NRA, just a law abiding citizen of the United States,

July 20, 2012 12:28 pm at 12:28 pm |

Alex

Bloomberg is the closest thing this country has to a dictator at any level of government. He's a megalomaniac. So seriously, he needs to shut up.
As for gun control, there are definitely pros. Personally I believe the cons outweigh the pros. Either way, if you want to ban or significantly restrict private gun ownership, just realize the only legal way you can do so is via a Constitutional Amendment. Regular laws won't do it. Like it or not, we have the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms in this country. So you want to change that, at least have the respect for our laws to do so legally.

July 20, 2012 12:28 pm at 12:28 pm |

Charlie

The NRA nor lawful gun owners walked into the theater last night, just an idiot who if all of bleeding hearts got your way and banned guns would have found a way to get them . I own numerous handguns and none of them has ever nor will ever go on a shooting spree. As for Bloomhard go to Europe where they like government control. This is a very tragic incident and I and my family will pray for all of the victims and their families. As for all of you lets take the guns idiots remember how well gun control worked in Cuba, Australia and Nazi Germany. God bless America

People having guns isn't the problem. There are countries like Switzerland and Israel which have relatively lax gun laws and very little incidence of gun-related violence. The issue is rather the type of people obtaining guns who are either mentally unstable, gangsters, criminals, negligent (leaving firearms in easy reach of children), etc. It would be hard to implement a law or policy that would prevent some of those people from obtaining guns (namely the gangsters and criminals) who would find a way regardless to obtain them.

I think if you allow people, who are well trained, to carry guns then a lot of these problems go away. I know people will say that this is what the police are for, which is true, but the police also cannot be in every place at the same time. In Israel, this idea allowed citizens to shoot a guy who took a bulldozer and started going on a rampage, running over cars and people. If the people didn't have guns, he would've caused a lot more destruction before the police intervened. I don't think that things should be like the Wild West, but I don't recall hearing of people going into random places and randomly shooting people during those times. However, I'm not a scholar of Wild West history so I could be wrong.

July 20, 2012 12:29 pm at 12:29 pm |

PHXBlue86

@NRA4EVR
Amen, and at Luc, well go and live in Canada. So if Mr Bloomberg wants a gun control, why does his city has most gun control and most shooting and murders??? Yeah tell me about that?

July 20, 2012 12:29 pm at 12:29 pm |

S W

Controling guns only makes it easier for the government to control those that abide by the reula of law. I will personally obtain (illegally) ever gun and weapon I can should the government decide to disarm the people. The 2nd ammendment is there for a reason. I have the right to bear arms. That is finite.

If America wants these random killings to stop, it (and the rest of the world) must say goodbye to free access to firearms and violent video games. Speaking of which, what do little kids do at the premier of such a movie in the middle of the night?

Absolutely, this issue of "freedom" to possess assault rifles and other weapons needs to be discussed, and politicians should take responsibility for letting massacres and shootings occur. But let's not let the discussion stop there. What about our "freedom" of speech that allows Hollywood to produce an endless stream of violence in movies and TV shows. We deplore the shortcomings of our educational system, but look at how much people are learning from the media that teaches us how to grab a gun without consciousness of consequences.

July 20, 2012 12:30 pm at 12:30 pm |

Ted van Tol

Typical! Most reactions are pro gun. A little kid cant kill his father or mother, brother or sister when there is no gun in the house. Killing a lot of people at once is a lot more difficult without a gun. So, away with them all for whom that does not need them.

July 20, 2012 12:31 pm at 12:31 pm |

kojakinfla

Maybe a lot of people feel that the mayor is out of line saying what he said. I say maybe as I am really not sure how I feel about it. One one hand, I think that is wasn't right. But on the other hand, people need to do something about this and bringing it up again when it is in the news is good. Personally I favor gun control but I also do not want to eliminate the personal freedoms we have in this country by imposing my feelings on others, much the same ways that I do not want others imposing their desires on me.

July 20, 2012 12:31 pm at 12:31 pm |

WiredweirdinSF

Interesting, when Bloomberg is going to punish people for buying soft drinks, eating french fries or having a firearm. Nannny state run amok. Certainly no loss of freedom in any of this right libs. Why does he not propose banning drugs, or welfare fraud or corruption?

July 20, 2012 12:32 pm at 12:32 pm |

Ithappenz

Tighter gun control will not stop wacko's from getting a gun. Or banning guns, why should law abiding citizens get punished for some nut case? And he had bombs too. Aren't they outlawed? yup that worked out well too.

July 20, 2012 12:35 pm at 12:35 pm |

Becky

The issue of gun ownership, licensing and control needs to go back to the citizens of this country so their collective voice can be heard. If every state is printing up ballots for this fall's presidential election, it's time to put this issue on the ballot and let the people be heard. In my opinion, Joe Public should never be allowed to own anything other than a single shot gun. Period. We have laws that are so much more strict for drinking and driving, drug offenses and yet we continue to allow lobbying organizations with deep pockets tell us what we should do. Enough. I cannot even imagine what utter chaos and human destruction would have occured if concealed carried weapons were drawn at the theater. Nobody would have been clear on to who the initial shooter was, who may or may not have been in cahoots with him and it would have just been an even bigger blood bath. My heart goes out to the victims and families in Colorado. Please let us come together to make this the last such incident.

July 20, 2012 12:37 pm at 12:37 pm |

capitalismiskool

The US averages 300 vehicular homicides each year? According to Mikey then, we need stricter car control.

July 20, 2012 12:39 pm at 12:39 pm |

Blah blah the wheel's off your trailer

@tpm

Very good comment! I agree that the black market is perhaps the best place to start and the sooner, the better. Our government spends billions of dollars fighting foreign wars to disarm terrorist groups and dictators but as you stated, there are perhaps more guns in downtown Detroit than in Damascus! Our government pointing fingers at insurgents in foreign countries is like the pot calling the kettle black. I believe we should get our own house in order first before we start trying to fix someone else's house. There's nothing America cannot do but at the same time, there is nothing we can do without the full support of congress and I'm afraid that the current stalemate between republicans and democrats over how to get things done in Washington is a big disappointment. But let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that one day, Washington will finally get serious on the war on terrorism on our own streets.

July 20, 2012 12:39 pm at 12:39 pm |

Think

A little early for this speech. We do not know how this person got the guns. Maybe the issue is we have enough gun laws but aren't enforcing them. This seems to be an issue on a lot of things (examples are just that and not a judgment of the laws themselves)........ immigration, Pot smoking illegal according to US gov but not enforced in CA

July 20, 2012 12:40 pm at 12:40 pm |

CCman

If this would have happened in Colorado Springs the gunman would have died at the hands of one or several Concealed Carriers. I rarely go anywere without a .45

July 20, 2012 12:41 pm at 12:41 pm |

Vince

As a resident of NYC, I'm pleased that stricter gun laws here have dramatically reduced the amount of gun violence taking place on NYC streets over the past decades. Statistically NYC is the safest "big" city in the nation, with gun related violence falling every year since 2000. I don't care what the rhubes and good ol' boys in the rest of the country want to do with their gun laws...but you never hear of a school shooting, etc. taking place in the NY metro area.